


Coffee & Robbery

by nazgulofangmar



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, Comedy, Humour, Light & Fluffy, M/M, No Drama, Robbery, Sass, mostly sassy though, retired!Zane, tiny bit of action, ty is being a bitch, you know the drill, zane owns a coffeeshop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 07:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16488284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazgulofangmar/pseuds/nazgulofangmar
Summary: Zane owns a coffeeshop. Ty has recently been transferred to Austin. During his search for a hot caffeinated beverage he is caught up in a robbery. Ty follows protocol to the letter when trying to defuse the situation - not. You know the drill, sweet, fluffy coffeeshop AU with a hint of guns and a ton of sass.





	1. Espresso & Shirts

Ty was late. Of course he was. He got in line at the coffee shop all the same. He wasn’t sure if he did it out of spite or if he was genuinely worried he might kill one of his colleagues if he showed up for work without having had a decent shot of caffeine. The thought almost provoked a smirk. The Bureau would survive ten more minutes without Special Agent Grady.

“Hi, what can I get ya?” The girl smiled at Ty as he stepped up to the counter.

Ty returned the smile and quickly scanned her shirt for a name-tag. To his surprise she didn’t wear one and the management of _Lone Star Coffee_ immediately rose higher in his opinions. “I’ll have a double espresso, please. Wait, better make that a triple.”

“Long day ahead?”, the girl asked sympathetically as her nails clacked against the keys of the register. Ty huffed in acknowledgement and pulled five dollars from his wallet. “Can I get your name?”

“Huh?” Ty looked back at the girl who was holding a paper cup and a felt pen expectantly. Out of habit he’d scanned his surroundings. It wasn’t a traditional café you’d see a dime a dozen in America, it had more of an European vibe to it. There were tables and smaller booths along the windows but no stools, nor a bar. Right in front of him there was a display area for cakes, cupcakes and other sweets. The wall to his right was partly covered by a bookshelf brimming with novels. Very cosy.

People seemed to mostly have their coffee to-go rather than sit down. There was just a couple sitting in a booth at the window, cups and plates in front of them, talking relaxedly. A few tables down a woman had her nose buried in a book, one hand wrapped around a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

“Isn’t that just a _Starbucks’_ thing?”

The girl shrugged, smile just a little too tight at the corners of her mouth in what he assumed was annoyance. As though she were expecting him to get angry. “Boss wants it that way. Talk it out with him if you don’t like it.”

Ty held up his hands in a placating manner. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so gruff. Just haven’t had anything decent to eat yet. Name’s Ryan.” Ty smiled disarmingly and hoped to have put the girl at ease. She nodded and scribbled something on his cup and turned to prepare his espresso.

“Is there a problem, Lori?” Ty nearly jumped out of his skin when a tall man suddenly appeared behind the counter. Ty had had his head turned for no more than a second for another quick sweep of the shop. Old habits died hard. How had he gotten there so fast and without Ty noticing?

Lori didn’t seem at all phased by his sudden appearance. She shook her head. “No. All good, Zane.”

Ty tried to get his heartbeat back under control. It never did him any good if he got spooked like that. Especially by a good-looking man- wait, _what_?

“You okay, mate? You don’t look so good.” The man called Zane leaned over the counter, a concerned frown on his brow. Ty caught the amused spark in his eyes, despite the – obviously faked – worried expression. Was he _humouring_ him?

“I’m fine”, Ty snapped, his confidence and temper back in place. When he looked at Zane again, he noticed the spark was still there in those beautiful dark eyes. Ty swallowed and cleared his throat. He suddenly was very glad he had given Lori a false name. “Can we get a move on? I have to get to work.” 

“That’ll be 3.45 $, please.” Zane’s voice was dark and rich. He wasn’t at all irritated by Ty’s harsh tone. The amused twinkle in his eyes was still there but there was something else, too that Ty couldn’t quite place. “I hope we’ll be seeing you around, Ryan.”

Ty slammed the five-dollar-note on the counter and grabbed his coffee, Lori was handing him. Ty noticed the corners of her mouth twitch and narrowed his eyes. What was it with these people? “Keep the change.”

As soon as Ty had left the shop, Lori all but sidled up next to her colleague Julie who had been watching the entire scene with an amused smirk. “Bet you ten bucks he’ll be back.”

Julie raised an eyebrow. “Lori, honey, have you seen our boss? Of course he will be back! Question is who will take the first step and ask the other out? I’d vote for Ryan.”

“No way! He was all flustered, not a chance he will ask Zane out. Twenty bucks says Garrett will do it.”

Julie grinned. “Deal.”

**ooOoOoo**

  
Of course Ty’d had to go back into the coffeeshop today before work, a tiny voice at the back of his head almost squealing in delight when he’d seen Zane behind the counter. Ty spent a few seconds admiring his tall strong built and those beautiful dark eyes. The fact that he had been thinking about Zane who had no business being so damn handsome hadn’t exactly been improving his mood.

As Ty walked up to the counter Lori smiled in recognition and tipped over a half-full cup of hot chocolate as she gave him a little wave. Zane was almost sure she’d done it on purpose to leave him in charge of the register and counter as she went to find a rag.

“What can I get you? Triple espresso? By the looks of it you’d need at least five shots of pure black coffee”, Zane drawled with a smile. Just as he had expected, Ty’s temper showed almost immediately. Was it mean that he liked to rile the man up?

“I’ll stick to a triple, thanks”, he snapped and crossed his arms.

“Of course.” Zane scribbled his name on the cup and went to work on the coffee maker.

Ty let his gaze wander over the booths and tables by the window and took in the artfully written boards on the wall listing the different beverages and cakes _Lone Star Coffee_ offered. There were more customers this time but each were either focusing on their breakfast or the person they were with.

“What kind of business calls for the boss to work at the register himself?” Ty asked after a few moments. He tried not to stare at the man’s muscled back or God forbid his ass but failed miserably as he watched Zane prepared his coffee in quick practised moves.

Zane turned around, surprised. “The kind of business that respects their employees and wouldn’t ask anything of them that the boss wouldn’t be comfortable doing himself.”

Taken aback, Ty stared at Zane before nodding. “Sounds like you’re a nice boss”, he mumbled. “But fucking slow. I gotta go to work, hurry up!”

Zane grinned, obviously amused at how Ty tried to play down his compliment with an insult. He finished the espresso off with a spoon of sugar. “Then get up earlier, sunshine.”

Ty was about to snap back, making a grab for his coffee when Zane suddenly lost his grip on the cup. He lurched forward to catch it but it was too late. The lid plopped off and Ty yelped in pain as the hot liquid spilled over his chest. Cursing he tore his shirt off and used it to wipe down his arms and chest.

“Fuck, Ryan, I’m sorry!” Zane rushed around the counter with a paper towel but stopped short when he saw how ripped Ty was. Ty dabbed his shirt at his reddening chest and his muscles moved smoothly beneath the skin. Zane blinked as he saw the numerous scars covering his arms and torso as well as the various tattoos. Ryan pegged him as a cop but somehow his attitude and rudeness weren’t quite reconcilable with that line of work. A private eye, maybe? Zane stopped staring and finally offered Ty a paper towel. 

“Shit!” Ty ripped the paper towel from Zane’s hand and removed the rest of the coffee stains on his skin. “What the fuck was that for?”

Zane winced but his eyes still showed that amused spark that Ty had become to like after only two days. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get you all wet and sticky.”

Ty narrowed his eyes at Zane who offered him a genuine smile. Had he not realized how this comment just sounded? For all he knew, Zane had spilt the coffee on him on purpose and was making innuendos now. “Careful, Lone Star. You’re on thin fucking ice here.”

Zane actually laughed. “Sorry, Ryan. I could have worded that better. How about I lend you a shirt and get you another coffee? On the house.”

Ty sneered at him and aggressively wiped down his arms again for good measure. “I’m late as it is. Thanks for the coffee”, he added sarcastically before stalking to the door.

**ooOoOoo**

  
“Grady! My office!” Martinez ordered courtly as she walked through the array of desks towards her office. 

Ty pushed away from his desk, grateful to get something to do. He’d given up on his paperwork half an hour ago and had spent his time texting Nick and folding paper planes. His colleagues had either sensed his mood or read it from his scowl and had left him to his own devices. 

“I have a new case for you.” Martinez handed Ty a thin file he scanned quickly before looking at his boss, surprised.

“Robbery? But that’s-”

Martinez waved her hand dismissively. “I know that’s not your division. But we both know that the desk work is killing you. Or rather you being forced to sit at your desk all day long is killing my other agents who have to deal with your shit.”

Ty remained silent. He knew he was not easy being around with. Especially now that he had been transferred to the Austin Bureau. Although the official transfer note said something along the lines of ‘temporary filling a vacancy for the understaffed Bureau’ Ty knew he was being punished. During his last assignment he had taken part in a high speed chase across the freeway, wrecking more than just one civilian’s car. Unfortunately a high ranking politician had been mixed up in the whole affair and demanded Ty be suspended. Burns had discreetly shipped him to Austin instead until the waves calmed down again.

“The case?” Ty prompted and Martinez sighed. Sometimes she wondered if really Grady was the one being punished or her entire Bureau.

“Four people. Two hold the customers hostage while the other two focus on the shopkeeper and the register. So far they have robbed six stores.”

“What, they hit shops in bright daylight?”

“Old-fashioned gangsters with masks and rifles, yes”, Martinez confirmed. “All the witness reports so far lead us to believe that they are professionals. No useless shouting, no wasted movements. If they can’t get to the money in under one minute they leave without it. They take no risks.”

“But they have taken money out of the registers of all six shops”, Ty mused. “How do we know their time limit is one minute?”

“According to Martin Jackson, who was a hostage at the first robbery, a grocery store, one of the gangsters said it to their team.”

Ty nodded. “All right. I’ll get right on it. Do I get a partner?” The question came was almost hesitantly.

“Only if you want to but honestly, nobody wants to work with you right now.”

Ty huffed, amused. “Don’t feel bad, I hear that a lot.”

Martinez raised an eyebrow at him and waved her hand in resignation. “Dismissed.” When Ty was almost at the door, nose buried in the file, she called after him. “And put a fucking shirt on! You’re lowering the work quota.”

“Yeah but I’m raising morale”, Ty called back over his shoulder.


	2. Garrett & Grady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbery? Robbery! And Ty is being super helpful in a tense situation.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t think you’d come back”, Zane said with a smile as he took Ty’s order. Ty squinted up at him. Was that an apology of sorts?

“Neither did I”, Ty huffed. Something was different today but he couldn’t quite place what made him uneasy. There was a couple having breakfast in one of the booths but apart from them it seemed to be a slow day. When he couldn’t find anything unusual he returned his attention to Zane who was waiting for the coffee maker to finish Ty’s espresso.

“And yet you find yourself here. I reckon there is something that drew you back to our humble establishment.” Zane was humouring him again but Ty couldn’t bring himself to focus on the obvious flirt. His nervousness spiked again and he started to get twitchy.

“Well it sure wasn’t this awful service”, Ty mumbled as he looked around again. Damn it! Sometimes he wished his instincts were a little more precise when it came to those things. It probably was the excitement of being able to be doing field work again. He would spend the morning in the office filling out paperwork and forms before he’d head into town to find some gangsters. Ty loved working for the Bureau because it meant he could approach a case differently than as a cop. No needless investigation or abiding by the law. His tactic was more direct: find a criminal, offer his services as a robber, dealer or whatever was needed and wait for the bigger fish to make a move on him. After all, nobody liked a new player on their turf.

Zane frowned at the lack of fire from Ty and handed him his cup of coffee like a normal person, without spilling it. He noticed that Ty was dressed even more casually than usual. The leather jacket and ripped jeans made him look more dangerous, like he knew how to handle himself on the streets at night. Somehow it made him all the more attractive. He took the five dollar note, Ty was handing him, trying to ignore how beautiful his eyes were as they flitted across the room.

“Sorry, the whole system froze earlier and we’ve been trying to get it back online. It’s a pain in the ass but we’re working around it as best as possible. I won’t be able to give you any change.” He kicked the register for good measure. When there still came no heated reply from Ty, not even a huff at the pain-in-the-ass-comment, Zane frowned.

“You okay?”

Ty nodded, unsure how to answer Zane’s question. There had been no tease, no humour behind it, just genuine concern. “I’m not late for work which makes me uneasy. I need the stress and the tirade from my boss to function properly. Keep the change and get some fucking technician in here to fix that pain in the ass.”

Zane laughed at that and raised an eyebrow. “Now, that sounds more like you. See you around.”

Ty smiled a bit tensely and nodded his thanks. On his way to the door he gave Lori and Julie who were sticking their heads together a little wave. He was about to reach for the door when it suddenly smacked into him, sending him to the floor. Cursing he tossed the cup of coffee away from him, ready to fight whoever had just slammed a _door_ in his face!

“All right, nobody move! Remain calm, do as we say and we’ll be out of y’all’s business in no time! Don’t move, sunshine!”

Clutching his nose, Ty looked up with a curse to see a rifle being aimed at him. Reluctantly, he raised his hands. Two men immediately moved towards the counter to point guns at Zane and his two girls. One remained at the door and flipped the antiquated sign so it said ‘closed’ before locking the front door. Ty cursed under his breath again as he stared down the barrel of the gun. At least he didn’t have to go look for these guys and could experience their MO firsthand now that he was caught up in a fucking robbery himself.

The man who had ordered them to remain calm now signalled him to move. Slowly Ty made his way towards where the other robbers had already moved the couple that had been sitting in a window booth and made them huddle on the floor. Zane, Lori and Julie were still behind the counter. Thank God it was a slow day and there were no more people in the shop. Ty never took his eyes off the robber. An instinct and a mistake.

“Got ourselves a tough boy. Move your ass to the wall and turn around! Rogue, search him! Ghost, keep an eye on the hostages. Banshee get to work on that register. Two minutes.”

Ty clenched his teeth but did as he was told. He knew he was screwed but there simply was no way for him to take out four armed people who’d marked him as the biggest threat in the room already. He didn’t try to look over his shoulder as he heard one of the gangsters approach while another still had his rifle on him. The man called Rogue slammed him into the wall for good measure, getting an irate growl out of Ty before starting to pat him down.

Zane stood rooted to the spot, having instinctively tried to move between the robbers and his two girls as soon as Ty had hit the floor. One of the robbers had aimed his rifle at Lori and ordered Zane to get the money from the register. Zane was moving slowly as to not give the robber in front of him any reason to hurt Lori. Not that she looked particularly impressed. Neither did Julie who hadn’t even bothered with raising her hands and was standing next to Lori with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face.

“What’s the problem? Why aren’t you opening the register?” Even though the woman sounded slightly pissed she never raised her voice as if she knew that a loud robber was more likely to cause a panic.

Zane shrugged almost apologetically. When he spoke his voice was calm, bordering on bored. “Our entire system froze this morning. I can’t open the register without the computer.”

“Couldn’t even give me my damn change! Fucking service this is”, Ty called over his shoulder and earned a jab between the shoulder blades for his trouble. He snarled at Rogue in response who shoved him against the wall again.

“Ghost, get that register open! Banshee, the hostages.” Both robbers moved almost instantaneously, obviously well-trained. They made the exchange smoothly. 

Ty was pushed into the wall again as Rogue discovered his gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. “Ts, ts, ts, Americans and their love for guns. Can’t even get coffee without their babies.” Rogue handed the gun to Banshee. Ty was about to exhale a relieved breath that they hadn’t killed him on the spot for carrying when Rogue’s hand snaked around his torso and into his leather jacket’s inner pocket. He tensed. Ty knew what Rogue would find and he cursed himself for having followed the rules for once. Technically, he was only allowed to leave his badge at the office in the afternoon before he plunged himself into the criminal scene of Austin. Usually, he didn’t care about regulations and would have left his badge at home but he figured Martinez would have his head if he pissed her off even more.

“Evilface, we’ve got a problem”, Rogue called and shoved Ty against the wall again when he let out a choked laugh.

“Who the fuck calls himself _Evilface_?” Ty was barely able to grind the words out without laughing, trying very hard not to lose his composure. If he broke down laughing now they’d surely put a bullet in his brain. He stifled another laugh and didn’t even protest when Rogue pushed the barrel of his rifle between his shoulder blades to shut him up.

Zane was thanking God that the robbers were focusing on Ty or else they’d have first killed his grinning ass and then Lori and Julie who could barely control themselves. “Keep it together, damn it!” he hissed before giving Ghost an encouraging nod to keep working.

Evilface shrugged. “I like it. Now, what’s the problem?”

“Guy’s a fucking Fed.” Ty could almost picture the situation spiral out of control when he heard the safety of Rogue’s rifle being disengaged. No more grinning, he swivelled on the balls of his feet, grabbing the barrel, holding it away from him and the couple and headbutting Rogue in the face. Howling in pain Rogue stumbled back, clutching his bleeding nose. The rifle clattered to the ground.

Ty moved back from Rogue and raised his hands again as two guns were trained on him. Ghost was still at the register. “Sorry about the mess. Sunny boy here was about to shoot me and my instincts just kicked in.” Ty shrugged apologetically. “I don’t want to see anybody hurt so just take what you want and leave.”

“ _Take what you want_?”, Zane echoed, hyper-aware of Ghost trying to dismantle his register next to him. “Excuse you but that’s my fucking shop and my fucking customers’ lives you are gambling away here. What kind of Fed just headbutts a robber?”

“That was an accident-”

“Huh?!”

Ty crossed his arms before his chest, seemingly oblivious to the rifles still aimed at him. He scowled at Zane. “Listen, Lone Star. We just need to remain calm and everything will sort itself out. You’re insured. They’ll take the money and leave, right?” The last part he directed at the robbers who just stared at him.

Zane couldn’t believe this guy. “Ryan, you can’t just shit-talk your way out of a fucking robbery.”

“Who’s Ryan?”

“… You are?!”

Ty frowned, then his face lit up again. “Oh, right!”

Zane propped his hands on the counter to lean forward. “You gave us a false name”, he deadpanned. “We’re a coffeeshop! What did you think we’d do with your name? Sell it to the mob?”

Ty only shrugged defensively. “You can never now what kind of fronts the mob has.”

Banshee cleared her throat. “Um, excuse me but we’re in the middle of a robbery. If you want to bicker like an old married couple you can do so once we got our money.”

Rogue looked over Ty’s FBI identification again. “His name’s Tyler Grady if you want to know. Oh, he’s a special agent, too!”

“Focus! …. Wait, Tyler Grady? _The_ Tyler Grady?” Evilface grabbed the badge from Rogue and read it over himself.

Zane raised an eyebrow. Ryan – Ty – never ceased to surprise him. The way he stood there in the middle of his shop with now three rifles pointed at him, arms crossed and a scowl reminded him of a cranky kid. “My you sure are a popular guy.”

“Nothing I can do about it. Not my fault I’m amazing.”

Ghost popped her head up from behind the counter. “Did I hear Grady? _The_ Ty Grady?”

Zane felt his patience slip. This felt so wrong. A robbery shouldn’t have as much comedic potential as this farce unfolding before his eyes. “Are you done yet?”, he snapped at Ghost who flinched back and doubled her efforts to get the stubborn old system working. Now he was even adding comedic material to this fucking mess. Zane’s gaze flickered to Lori and Julie who looked very entertained by the whole situation and not scared in the slightest. At least the girls were having fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evilface came as a very helpful suggestion from my friend whom I threatened to put it in the story if she didn't find me a cool robber name. She laughed and said she'd love that and here we are with a criminal called Evilface. His full name is Dark Joe McEvilface.


	3. Smiles & Statements

For the first time one of the other hostages butted into the conversation. The young couple had followed the situation with fear then interest and were now eagerly waiting for the plot to develop. One of the women piped up. “Who’s Ty Grady?”

“Ex-marine, special ops, black ops and former member of _Sidewinder_ ”, Banshee answered before she realised she was conversing with one of their hostages. Who should be afraid of them and not … whatever emotion it was they were showing now.

Ty’s eyebrows rose in synch with Zane’s. “I’m still in _Side_ \- wait a second! You shouldn’t have that intel, that’s classified!” He made a jerky move towards Evilface but stopped himself as Banshee raised her gun threateningly. Zane was very sure Ty was trying hard to suppress the urge to just throw himself at Evilface and beat every piece of information out of him.

Evilface stepped closer to Ty to give him a once-over but still keeping out of reaching distance as though he knew the danger Ty still posed with three guns on him. “Word travels, Grady. We know who you work for and what kind of jobs you and your team took on in the East.”

“There are lots of teams the army deploys that do shady shit. What makes _Tyler Grady_ so special?”, the hostage wanted to know. “No offence”, she added quickly.

“None taken”, Ty huffed graciously. 

Ghost popped up from behind the counter again, cables and other parts of the register in hand. “Everyone in the army and the underground knows _Sidewinder_. They are a bunch of bat-shit-crazy guys who like to blow stuff up. They are the ones you send if you want something taken care of with no questions asked.”

Zane snapped his head around, clearly annoyed. “Listen, lady, if you want that money you better stop chatting and get back to work.”

Ghost saluted and dove back under the table to attack the computer with a screwdriver. No more hacking and coaxing the system back online, apparently she had resorted to violence. Zane sighed. “Seriously, though? You know the system broke down and that means we haven’t been able to put any money in the register. Is this whole shitshow really worth the two hundred bucks still in there?”

Evilface waved dismissively. “You let us be the judge of that. Although, you are right on one thing. We’ve been here way to long already. Ghost, if you can’t get this open in one minute we’re leaving.”

“I won’t need a minute!” Ghost called back from under the table.

“Are you sure you want to continue this line of work?” Ty drew everyone’s attention back to him, looking from Rogue to Banshee and back to Evilface. “You’re trained, I give you that but there is no way you’d survive much longer in this business. The first minute of this robbery has to be applauded for professionalism but from then on it got less impressive by the second. Sunny boy here can’t do proper hostage control and was prancing about in my space constantly. I could’ve taken him down anytime I wanted. Why are you doing this? You suck at it!”

“You know if those guys don’t kill you I will when this is all over!” Zane growled. “I know I’m repeating myself here but _what kind of Fed_ provokes their captors like that? You wanna tell them that they’re the worst robbers in history, too?”

“Oi!” Rogue protested and aimed his rifle at Zane who just rolled his eyes. “Save it for someone who cares, Sunny boy. I know you’ll never shoot. If you meant business Evilface would’ve maimed Lori to force me to comply.”

Evilface turned away from Ty and aimed at Lori. “We can still do that if you want.”

Ty crossed his arms again. “But you are allowed to provoke them?”

“My shop, my rules.”

“Fuck you, Lone Star.”

Banshee took a step back. “This is getting out of hand, we lost the upper hand. None of them are scared. We should go. I don’t like the look of Grady. If it’s all the same to you I’d rather never see him again. He unsettles me.”

Ty flashed her a smile and winked.

Ghost made an affirmative sound from somewhere beneath the counter. Rogue looked at Evilface who nodded. “Ok, let’s go. Ghost, leave it.”

“Hang on, I still got questions!” Ty said. “Who do you work for? Where is your base? Why would you rob a store with two hundred bucks in their register? You’d really make my job easier if you just told me now.”

Evilface actually laughed. “We’re not gonna tell you anything, Grady! What kind of robbers do you think we are? You may scare my associates but I ain’t afraid of no damn army boy. Just report back to your superiors and set the bureaucracy in motion. Once they got their shit together, we’ve already skipped town. You lot will never catch us.”

When the robbers were almost at the door, Ty called after them. “One last thing. You should watch your backs tonight. I haven’t been doing much field work lately so I might be a bit rusty when it comes to apprehending criminals. I might shoot first and ask questions later. You know, damn army boy habit.”

“You going to hunt us down?” Rogue asked, a hint of panic in his voice. 

Ty smirked. “Hunt you down? I should think so as I was assigned your case yesterday. Before you ruined my morning I was on my way to the office to drop off my badge. Makes it easier to mingle with the underground folks and sniff out rats like you. Tell you what, though. Even if you hadn’t been my case I’d hunt you down all the same because you smacked a fucking _door_ in my face and threatened everyone in here.”

“That’s illegal! You can’t go bad cop on us!” Evilface said, the bravado already slipping.

“It’s standard undercover procedure”, Ty answered calmly but Zane caught the amused spark in his eyes. “Besides, I’m Ty Grady. Everyone in the entire FBI knows me and what a rule-ignoring pain in the ass I am. My boss is gonna sigh at the paperwork she has to do if I shoot someone _accidentally_ but that’ll be it. So, take care on the streets. You’ll never know when or where I’ll make a move.”

Without another word the robbers hurried out of the shop. Ty immediately took out his phone and barked orders concerning roadblocks, alerting train stations and airports. “Oh, and if one of them flashes an FBI identification that says ‘Tyler Grady’, it’s stolen.” He laughed. “Well, yeah, I should’ve guessed that everyone knows me already.”

Zane hunched down in front of the couple to make sure they were doing ok or if he had to call an ambulance. Lori and Julie joined him and started to talk to the women quietly. Zane realised they’d be the better option to calm them down and left them to it. He waited patiently for Ty to finish his call before he walked up to him.

“You all right?” Ty wanted to know as he put his phone away a few minutes later. He never saw the punch coming.

“ _Am I all right_? You fucking asshole! That’s not how you deal with a hostage situation!” Zane growled at Ty who was holding his jaw in surprise before he started grinning. “What the fuck are you grinning for? The shit you just pulled was nowhere near protocol!”

Ty laughed and pointed at him gleefully. “I knew it! You’re a Fed!”

Zane rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to fight an oncoming headache. Despite himself he felt a smile threatening to show. “Retired. But yeah, I used to be a Fed. I think I should be thanking every God out there I am not on the force anymore if _you_ work for the Bureau.”

“Come on, Lone Star! Admit it, you had fun!”

Zane’s lips twitched into a smile. There was something about Ty that made him want to kiss him half the time and punch him in the face the other half. Even though he was all gruff on the outside Zane caught that mischievous spark in his beautiful eyes again. “Well, ok, yes, but those guys were idiots. A newbie could have arrested them.”

“Can I just point out that Ty scared them off by simply being himself?” Julie asked with a grin as she joined them.

“I’m amazing.”

“I’d say you’re completely nuts but you saved our asses, so I guess I should thank you. How about a cup of coffee? I think we all could use some”, Zane offered with a smile that let Ty know the offer included more than just a hot beverage.

Lori raised an eyebrow at Julie questioningly but she shook her head. “Nope, this doesn’t count as asking him out.”

“You’ve been betting?!” Zane asked exasperated. “Again?”

Ty laughed and winked up at Zane. “The amount of flirting you’ve already done you could ask me out if you’re tough enough, Lone Star.” A challenge. Or maybe he just liked to rile the man up.

“Shut up. Why would I want to date an ass?”

“A handsome ass, though.” Ty grinned. “I’d love to have a cup of coffee but I’m afraid I’ve got to get back to work now that I know who I’m looking for. Lucky me.”

Ty’s phone rang. When he looked at the caller ID he winced. “Excuse me, gotta take this. My boss. Grady?”

“What in the name of God have you done now? I had no idea you had already hit the streets” Martinez sounded more surprised than pissed which was an improvement. “I just got a call from the Austin PD that four people have just turned themselves in and fell head over heels to get a confession to the string of robberies out. Apparently they begged to be arrested before you got to them.”

“I didn’t do anything”, Ty defended himself. “Seriously, though? They turned themselves in? I was just on my way to work, even punctual today, getting a coffee as usual when they hit the coffeeshop and-”

“You’ve been caught up in a hostage situation? Please tell me nobody got hurt”, Martinez winced.

Ty bit back a laugh and looked at Zane when he answered. “Nobody got hurt. I followed standard procedure and defused the situation professionally. I followed the book to the letter.”

Zane huffed, clearly amused.

“Somehow I don’t believe a single word of that bullshit, Grady. I want a report by six and bring the witnesses down to the station for a statement. No need to question the robbers, the APD already got a teary confession out of them. I have no idea what you did to them but it sure as hell wasn’t standard procedure. Professional my ass, Grady!”

Ty hung up and smiled at Zane. “It seems I got time for that coffee after all.”

**ooOoOoo**  


Martinez narrowed her eyes at Lori when she looked up from the written statement she had given earlier. “Are you very sure this is how it happened?”

Lori nodded emphatically. “Absolutely. The robbers stormed into the shop, knocking Special Agent Grady down in the process before moving him and the two customers in the shop into the back corner. Mr. Garrett, my colleague and myself remained behind the counter. The leader – Evilfacae – threatened to shoot me if Mr. Garrett didn’t open the register. Unfortunately our system had problems and we couldn’t get to the money. Ghost – the hacker I presume – started working on the register. At this point Special Agent Grady valiantly tried to get the robber’s attention by telling them to remain calm. He said that we’d find a solution to the problem if only we worked together and all remained calm.”

“This sounds so wrong to my ears”, Martinez sighed and glanced behind Lori where she could see Ty smack another agent over the head for having taken his stapler, threatening to shove it where the sun didn’t shine. “Please continue, Miss Castillo.”

Lori smiled. “Evilface-”

“About that. Did Special Agent Grady call him that?”

“No, they addressed their boss with this name. Anyway, Evilface ordered Rogue to search Special Agent Grady and discovered his gun and his FBI identification, at which point the tension became palpable. But Special Agent Grady remained calm and said that he wasn’t a cop right now. He was just a regular customer not wanting anybody hurt. Special Agent Grady showed his intentions by getting down on his knees to make sure the robbers didn’t see him as a threat and started shooting.”

Martinez stared at Lori. She could feel the headache brewing behind her eyes already. “He what now? Are you sure?”

“I am very sure, Ma’am”, Lori nodded and gave Martinez another smile. “The robbers seemed to be familiar with the name Tyler Grady, having heard rumours about him and his team and they seemed frightened – no not frightened, they seemed to have a whole lot of respect of him. Again Special Agent Grady repeated that in this moment he wasn’t a police officer and wouldn’t try to stop them if only they let everyone live. Mr. Garrett, a former FBI agent, remembered his training and actively helped try to defuse the situation. They immediately caught on what the other was doing and worked together smoothly.”

“Sorry for interrupting again. Tyler Grady did what? He worked with another person?!”

“Yes, Ma’am. Together, Special Agent Grady and Mr. Garrett were able to convince the robbers that it wasn’t worth trying to force open a register that contained no more than two hundred dollars.”

“Did Special Agent Grady threaten the robbers at any moment?”

Lori made a show of thinking about the question. “He didn’t exactly threaten them. He only reminded them as he tried to talk them down that the police would find them sooner or later. That the FBI was already investigating these robberies and that it wasn’t worth the money to keep hitting shops. He offered them to get them to call a good lawyer and a fair judge if only they surrendered.”

“This sounds so fucking wrong.”

“Unfortunately, neither Mr. Garrett nor Special Agent Grady could convince the robbers to turn themselves in but they realised it was pointless to try and pry the register open for a mere two hundred dollars. Evilface eventually called a retreat and the robbers left. However, it must have impressed them a lot when Special Agent Grady said the police were already investigating them if they turned themselves in.”

Martinez ground her teeth together and nodded. She caught Ty’s eye over Lori’s shoulder and saw his mouth stretch into a grin as he winked. Fucker. He knew that she couldn’t punish him for such a stellar report. Not when all five witness statements sounded like a fucking PR campaign. “I’m sure Special Agent Grady was very persuasive”, she finally mumbled.

“You have very good agents at your disposal, Ma’am. I feel safe knowing that they work relentlessly to keep the city free of crime”, Lori added with an angelic smile.

“Thank you, Miss Castillo. You may go, we have your statement and if there should be any more follow-up questions we’ll be sure to give you a call.” Martinez knew there’d be no follow-up questions. The sooner she could file this case as solved and bury it in the archive the better. As was the best option with every case she assigned to Ty. She still had no idea how he managed to not only get the witnesses to testify as though he was their new god but also convinced Garrett to claim that the video feed of the cameras had been lost due the system freeze.

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Lori got up and left the office. When she passed Ty at his desk she made sure to give him a wink.

Martinez huffed and closed the file. No matter how much Ty pissed her off, she couldn’t deny that he was one of the best agents she had ever had. And she’d be damned if she ever let him know it.


	4. Threats & Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little extra, an epilogue if you will *wink*

“I didn’t think you’d have the guts to ask me out on a date, Zane”, Ty hummed against his ear. “Julie’s gonna be pissed if she finds out you made the first move.”

“You sure this counts as a date, gorgeous?” Zane kissed his jaw and made his way towards Ty’s collarbones. He had to duck his head to level out the extra height he had on Ty, which was something he would definitely exploit in the future. Zane could feel Ty’s laugh as he leaned in to kiss him.

“What, you’re not going to let me fuck you? How disappointing.” Ty gasped as Zane bit down on his shoulder. He felt Zane’s hands travel down his body to grab his ass. Ty yelped in surprise as Zane all but lifted him, pressing him against the wall. Ty instinctively wrapped his legs around Zane.

“Who said anything about you fucking me?” Zane’s voice had dropped dangerously low as he nipped at Ty’s neck. “You might need a scarf for the next few days.”

Ty cursed and wriggled in Zane’s hold but he couldn’t get any leverage. All he could do was hold on to Zane who looked down at him possessively. Ty loved how his eyes got even darker, almost black, when he was aroused. Still, he couldn’t let Zane have all the fun alone. “Fuck you!”

“I thought we’d just established that you’ll be the one howling for it, honey”, Zane drawled against Ty’s ear. He continued to bite at the sensitive skin of his neck while he waited for Ty to either punch him or leave. Or both.

“You wish!” Ty doubled his efforts to escape Zane’s hold on him until he finally got his fingers into a pressure point on Zane’s shoulder. Zane cursed as he lost his grip on Ty who danced out of his reach with a grin. “Did you really think that you could keep me pinned against a fucking wall?”

Zane smirked. “The thrill is in the chase, gorgeous. Do you think you’ll make it to the bedroom before I catch you?”

Ty returned the smirk and Zane caught the amused spark in his eyes he’d come to love. “Let’s find out, Lone Star.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this short coffeeshop AU, not quite a traditional one but wherever Ty and Zane are involved there can't be anything but chaos. =D


End file.
